Jim Marshall (baseball)

Rufus James Marshall (born May 25, 1931) is a former first baseman, manager and coach in American Major League Baseball. Marshall managed the Chicago Cubs (1974–76) and the Oakland Athletics (1979) but never enjoyed a winning season in either post. His career big-league managing record was 229–326 (.413) and his 1979 A's squad lost 108 of 162 games (.333). Born in Danville, Illinois, and raised in Long Beach, California, he threw and batted left-handed and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 190 pounds (86 kg).

Playing career

Marshall attended Long Beach State University. After beginning his professional career in 1950, he was a productive hitter during his minor league days in the Pacific Coast League of the 1950s, leading the PCL in home runs (31) and runs batted in (123) as a member of the 1954 Oakland Oaks.

In the Major Leagues, Marshall appeared in 410 games over five seasons (1958–62) and batted .242 with 206 hits and 29 home runs. He was part of the first interleague trade (without waivers) in baseball history when he was dealt by the Cubs with pitcher Dave Hillman to the Boston Red Sox for first baseman Dick Gernert on November 21, 1959.

In addition to the Cubs, he played for the Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates. He never appeared in an official game for the Red Sox, who traded him (in a waiver deal) to the Giants for pitcher Al Worthington during spring training in 1960.

Managing career

Marshall played baseball in Japan (with the Chunichi Dragons) from 1963–65, and then became a minor league manager in the Cubs' organization in 1968. After handling Triple-A assignments from 1971–73, he was promoted by the Cubs to MLB third-base coach on the staff of Whitey Lockman for 1974.

On July 25, with Chicago at 41–52, he replaced Lockman as manager. The Cubs went 25–44 over the remainder of the season to finish at 66–96, sixth and last in the National League East Division. Marshall then led the Cubs to successive 75–87 seasons in 1975 and 1976, the Cubs finishing in fifth and then in fourth place, before Marshall's firing at the close of the 1976 season. He managed at Triple-A for the Montreal Expos and Oakland organizations in 1977–78 before landing his second MLB command with the 1979 Athletics. Marshall concluded his managerial career in minor league baseball during the 1980s, working for the New York Yankees (1984) and Chicago White Sox (1986). He remains in the game as the senior advisor for Pacific Rim operations of the Arizona Diamondbacks.^[1]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Jim Marshall managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Baseball Library